Laptop Specs for a CS Student?

[Maximusfoximus]

Hi all,

 

I am just starting college, and I will be majoring in computer science. Right now I have a MacBook Air M1 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. I'm on a tight budget and would prefer not to upgrade if I don't have to. However, I've been reading all over the internet that the minimum specs for a software developer or CS student should be 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and I don't want to hobble my expensive degree by cheaping out on my laptop.

 

In your opinion, is 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD really necessary?

 

Also, my school includes free, unlimited cloud storage through Box, OneDrive, and Google Drive. Plus, I plan on keeping the laptop for at least 4-6 years. 

[trag1c]

You will inevitably use VMs at somepoint which take up a fair bit of RAM and 10s of GB of storage per instance. That's in addition to all of the other programs and browser tabs that you will have open. Even 16GB of RAM is pretty easy to over utilize.

 

Cloud storage is good for documents but is very poor for any larger files like VMs. So yes I would get something with 512GB of storage.

 

You could do it with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage but it won't be a pleasant experience as your system will slow down a lot from having to go to swap space. 

[Darkseth]

There is no need to worry. And especially no need to upgrade because something MIGHT be the case.
If 16gb Ram is truly necessary, you will notice it. Do not think about it before that happens.

 

A Windows VM, if you need to run a specific Windows Application will work on 8gb too, even tho you should keep Multitasking low then. Parallels puts 6gb Ram on the Windows VM out of the box, i didn't change that since i have 16gb Ram.
You might as well reduce that to 5gb or even 4gb.
I had to use the VM for Business Intelligence stuff.

 

For ComputerScience, you probably won't even need a VM, as most things run on M1.

And there's always the possibility of something like Linode, if it's just for a few Months.

 

If you ever DO notice, that your stuff don't run well, you can upgrade then. But only then. Save your Money.

 

Don't forget, CS was possible 5 and 10 years ago too. and i'm sure, most students didn't had 16gb Ram.

[rikitikitavi]

15 hours ago, Maximusfoximus said:

MacBook Air M1 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB

You’ve got a perfectly capable machine that will last you way beyond your school, and as @Darkseth said - you’ll know when you need more.

 

Also if a course will require smth beefier or incompatible - it might just be that course, and you can survive with a cloud solution or a lab pc.

 

Most of cs courses don’t need much horsepower.

 

Also here’s some extra advices:

- learn touch typing

- get familiar with terminal and git

- learn some bash

- give Vim a chance (maybe even emacs)

- always follow naming conventions